We seem to have entirely eliminated this problem. The solution won't work for everyone but I'll share, in case it's helpful.
1. There is a
huge distinction between a booking and an inquiry. We get lots of inquiries; only 60-80% become bookings... and I really can't afford to muck-up the planning of that serious 60-80% while the remainder dilly-dally.
2. In each inquiry response, I close with a "next step":
IMPORTANT: This email does not constitute a tentative reservation nor a commitment to hold these dates for you. Availability and rates are subject to change. Reservations are only confirmed upon receipt of payment.
Should you decide to make a reservation, please let me know and I will send a link to our secure payment page.
3. If someone replies in the affirmative, I send a booking response which says the following. (If you don't take credit cards, your timeframe will be different... but I propose there should always be a clearly defined timeframe.):
IMPORTANT: This tentative reservation will only be held for three days (72 hours). If you do not pay within this timeframe, please do not make payment without double-checking availability with us again. (If you pay outside of this timeframe and a refund is subsequently required due to unavailability then, unfortunately, all refund processing costs will be your responsibility.)
A. What happens if I get two inquiries for overlapping dates?
Depending upon how serious they seem, I may tell them that someone else is inquirying about similar days. But I may not. Inquiries are only inquiries. People planning dream vacations on a rainy day at home...
B. What happens if I get an inquiry within 3 days (or whatever works for you) of sending a tentative reservation/booking email to someone else?
I tell the inquirer that someone has a tentative hold until XXo´clock/day as we are awaiting payment and that, if payment is not received, I'll let them know at that time... but if their dates are flexible they might consider one of our other places
(we fairly regularly transfer people between our four places this way)
If the first party doesn't pay, I
automatically offer the apartment to the next people in line. No emails, no mothering. Never any phonecalls. Only once did someone miss payment by mistake, losing their reservation and they very graciously accepted complete responsibility for their error. As you might expect, the people on the waiting list pay verrrry promptly!
I think people appreciate and respect knowing exactly
what is expected of them, and
when.
I sincerely believe that the clearer and more consistent that we are, the EASIER we make things for our guests. Calling one more time to "doublecheck" on a wayward inquirer/tentative reservation might seem like a nice thing to do, but it isn't so nice for the serious inquirer anxiously waiting on the other side to book their limited, low-cost airfares... nor is it likely to be very nice to your pocketbook.
The beauty, of course, is that we all eventually find the different little things that work best for us and our guests. There is no single "right way" to do any of this but I do hope this is helpful to someone.
debk
ps-yes, "inquirer" is actually in the dictionary. i just looked it up.
